Characters
Plot
Pre Vietnam War
During/Post Vietnam War
Miscellaneous
100
What was the main character's full name?
Terry Erickson
100
Who did Terry ask for assistance in learning about the Vietnam War?
He asked his social studies teacher.
100
What was the conflict arising in Vietnam?
Communist North Vietnam was trying to invade South Vietnam.
100
When did the war start?
1954
100
How many Americans lost their lives in the war?
58,000
200
Why does Terry's father act so strangely all the time?
He is suffering from post-war stress/the Vietnam Syndrome.
200
How did Terry react to his father telling him what had happened to him in the war?
He began to felt guilty about how he had treated him and promised himself to treat him better and try to understand.
200
Why did some Americans not support U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War? (two reasons)
1. They believed we had no business interfering because it's not our territory 2. They did not want to risk the lives of our citizens in the civil struggle of the Vietnamese.
200
Why and when (not a date) did U.S. involvement stop?
The U.S. withdrew from the war before likely loosing.
200
What was communism designed to do?
Make the rich and the poor equal.
300
What happened when Terry's father had a Vietnam Syndrome attack?
His eyes 'went away' and he would start acting strangely.
300
Why does Terry feel guilty for asking his father about the war?
He is making him relive the horrible experience that he had in the war.
300
What is communism?
A governing system in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a single leader.
300
Which people were being killed and why? (other than soldiers)
Innocent civilians and because U.S. troops could not distinguish them from the enemy.
300
Name any one internal and one external conflict from the story.
Internal-Terry's father and his suffering from the war. External-Terry and his mom about his father's experience in the war.
400
What did the father do in the war that caused the Vietnam syndrome?
He tried to 'stop the sun' so the Vietnamese wouldn't kill him in the morning. The sun did come up, so he believed he was dead.
400
What did Terry's father do in the hardware store?
His father was crawling along the floor on his stomach, crying.
400
What is the domino effect?
A theory that if one state went communist, other states in the region would follow and so on.
400
What marked the end of the war?
North Vietnam captured South Vietnam's capital (Saigon).
400
Who was Ho Chi Minh?
The president of Vietnam during the majority of the war.
500
Why didn't Terry's parents tell him what happened to his father in the war? (two reasons)
1. His father didn't want to relive the horror of the situation in the war 2. Terry wouldn't be able to understand the severity of the situation
500
What did Terry's father do in the war to try to keep himself alive? (two reasons)
1. Stop the sun 2. Hide under Jackson's body
500
Why did the U.S. join the Vietnam War?
Along with other nations, the U.S. thought that communism was wrong. They were concerned about communist expansion and therefore interfered.
500
What was the turning point in the war?
The communists tried to invade South Vietnam's government, and this attack was named the Tet Offensive.
500
List three of the five countries that stayed free of communism after the war?
1. Indonesia 2. Singapore 3. Thailand 4. Malaysia 5. Philippines
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